How to Humble a Bull
by blue weekends
Summary: (Alternate Vol 7) The world is not done yet with Adam Taurus who sets his sights on the Schnees to settle the score. Meanwhile, Weiss tries to save her friends from the city she once called home, avoiding political squabbles and a dark conspiracy that threatens to topple Atlas from within.
1. Chapter 1

The Old Man had once been a Huntsman. Adam could tell, by the calluses in his hands, the broken nose and the fluid gait of a man who could still move at a speed half his age. He'd fished Adam out of the river, tended to his wounds and given him his own bed to sleep in. He also had Wilt and Blush and would not return them to Adam, and only addressed the Faunus as boy ever since Adam woke up three days ago.

"I'd like my sword back," Adam asked for the second time to the Old Man, who gave him his back as he sat at the water fishing.

"As I said the first time, you'll get them back when you're deserving of them, boy."

When Adam had tried to take them back the first time, the result was the taste of dirt in his mouth and the Old Man sitting on his back laughing at not having such entertainment in a long time. It made Adam fume to know that this was only more evidence that he'd fallen far, such that teenage girls and the elderly alike could thrash him, when he was once the bane of all humanity with his face on wanted posters and his name a thing that had not been dragged through the mud.

But the shame in him was overcome by curiosity and tempered by wariness, so this time Adam gingerly limped over to sit by the Old Man and watch the fishing line in the water. "Do you know who I am?" He asked.

"Can't say I have."

Adam grimaced. "I'm a revolutionary."

The Old Man chuckled. "No, you're a brat with a chip on his shoulder who thinks the world owes him something."

"I am the leader of the White Fang."

"Never heard of it."

"I have killed countless people."

"Join the club. Now hush boy and let me try to catch us some dinner. If you keep yapping I'll throw you back into the river where you came from."

Adam fidgeted as he let the Old Man be. There were so many things he needed to attend to but he needed his sword first. He needed to get back to White Fang and make sure his people still remembered who they took orders from. He needed to consolidate and build his power base. More than ever, he needed to find Blake and Yang again.

But here he was in the middle of nowhere watching the Old Man fish for carps and listening to the sounds of nature.

It occurred to him that he had so much time but he had not the faintest clue what to do with it in the meantime as he waited for his wounds to heal completely and for the Old Man to give him back his sword.

The Old Man whooped as he felt something tug on the line, jumping to his feet and pulling back to reel in the catch. Adam barely heard the warning as the carp came flying into his face and smacking his cheeks with its tail fin. "We're going to need some firewood!" the Old Man bellowed. "That's your cue, boy!"

"What, why me?"

"I caught the food, boy. Besides, one carp's hardly a meal." The Old Man's laughter filled Adam's ears, stinging him with mockery.

He almost wished he'd drowned in the river. Almost.

* * *

"I once knew a boy. Angry young ram, just like you. Always quick to put up his dukes when someone laughed at him or looked at him funny. He had a problem with authority and he hated his father. Loved his mother though. She could always bring out the best in him. But when it was his father he'd go rabid because the father often beat him. Beat him to discipline him but sometimes beat him for the sake of the beating."

Adam listened as the Old Man talked. It was night and the fire crackled quietly as the flames threw shadows over their faces. They had eaten the fish and neither of them felt the need to sleep, and since Adam had no wish to talk, the Old Man had sought to fill the silence instead with his wistfulness.

"One day, the mother died. Reckon it was winter that took her. On the day of her funeral, the boy found he could not cry. Try as he might, he could not find the tears. All he felt was numbness. But when the father died, the boy found he could not control himself. He wailed, he blubbered and he snivelled like a newborn babe."

Adam snorted. "Is there a point to this story?"

The Old Man looked at him in the eye. "I don't know what happened to you in the past, although I certainly guess from that brand that has taken your eye that it is a sordid tale, filled with misery and cynicism the likes of which someone your age should never have experienced. I know you hate me, not for who I am, but for what I am, so my understanding is that you have been the victim of hate, and in turn you have carried that hate to deliver in kind against your tormentors. Am I correct?

"Perhaps. I didn't ask you to lecture me."

"You are being lectured nonetheless. Hatred will not save you, boy. As much as you may hunger for it, it will only leave you even emptier than you were before if you ever succeed in having it. The boy I knew, who cried when his father died. He cried because he had nothing left after what he had hated so dearly had left him."

The Old Man fell into silence. Adam waited till he was sure his voice would not tremble before he spoke. "I don't want your lessons. I just want my sword back so I can be off."

"And what will you do then, boy?"

"That's none of your business."

The Old Man chuckled. Adam tensed as he heard him drew his sword. "It's a good blade. The scabbard is a shotgun?"

"A rifle."

"Marvellous. I see the swordhas had Dust infused into it as well. Where did you get them? Stolen perhaps?"

Adam scowled. "I made them myself."

"Why a sword? I would have thought a brat of your temperament would have picked something less refined. A hammer or a zweihander. A sword is hardly the kind of weapon fit for a terrorist, not when it is meant for the honourable warrior striving for a worthy cause."

"What can be more worthy a cause than to fight in the name of the weak and discriminated?"

The Old Man chuckled. "Do you really believe that you have been saving lives with your blade this whole time? Violence is an endless cycle. It can only be ended with the open palm, not the closed fist."

"And what would you know about violence?" Adam snapped.

"Plenty. I can tell who's a beast and who's civilized. I can tell that when you were still whole and as you soon will be again once those wounds heal, you can take on anything. I can tell that you are smarter than you give yourself credit for, but because you are young and used to getting your way with your strength, unmatched as it is until recently, you have let your mind rot from within by jealousy and selfishness and vanity, which has brought you here to me."

Adam jumped to his feet and was angry when the Old Man didn't, content to sit there and watch him with a look of appraisal, as if he was able to see everything that has happened to him, to when he was first branded to when Blake left him on that train to his defeat on that cliff. "Save your words for someone who cares," Adam spat. "You're a senile hermit with some half-baked platitudes making miles out of inches. You're not my father and although I may be grateful that you have saved my life, that does not give you the excuse to think you can change me. Do you want to know why? It's because you know nothing about me. You have no idea what I have gone through and what I have sacrificed. What right do you have to judge me?"

He left the Old Man there by the fire and limped back into the hut to sulk.


	2. Chapter 2

Adam always wanted to kill a Schnee since he bore the mark of their family business. Never got the chance though. Was always where they weren't. That changed the afternoon he tried to learn to fish with his hands. Another one of the Old Man's many lessons to shape Adam into something he had no intention of being. There he was, knee-deep in the shallow part of the river, bent over and trying to remember what the Old Man said before he wandered off for a stroll, promising to be back by nightfall, before Adam heard the Atlesian Knight-200s coming out from the treeline on the other side. For all their state of the art technology, the machines made as much sound as a rolling Boarbatusk. But of course, to be the centre of attention was typical of everything that came from Atlas. Shock and awe was the doctrine of their military after all.

"It is true," Winter said, her smug voice loud and clear. "Adam Taurus still among the land of the living, if only for just a little while longer."

The Old Man had said that the current will take the fish to Adam. Never fight the current. Flow with it, wait and the opportunity will swim into your hands. Just be ready to seize it. "Life doesn't work that way," Adam had snapped at him. "You have to go out and chase what you want."

"Does it really?" The Old Man had answered back simply as he toyed with the wisp of his beard. "How's that worked for you up till now?" Adam found he had no reply. "Chasing is all well and good, but my knees aren't what they used to be, and I find that sometimes what you want will come to you," the Old Man added. "So wait, but don't hesitate."

"Are we still talking about fishing?"

"Are we?" The Old Man had asked back, before grinning and strolling off.

Adam chuckled as he straightened stiffly. It has been a week since he had been fished out from a watery grave. It still hurt to breathe and move, but Adam no longer limped and was not afraid to make the same sudden movements that would have him doubling up and whimpering on the ground. The best part of all was that the Old Man had now seen fit to return Wilt and Blush back to him, for reasons only the elderly could perhaps understand. "You should have stayed home in your manor, Schnee."

"Why is that?"

Adam made a show of rolling up one sleeve and then the other before turning to look at her, his heart beating fast. "You see this?" He asked, pointing at the brand over his one ruined eye. "This I intend to repay, to you, your sister, your brother, your father and every last of you humans. Come, let us see if you really are as your family claims to be. The_ finest_ of them all_._"

Winter's answer was the sound of her Knights opening fire. Adam's retort was to leap into the salvo and wade right into the midst of all of Winter's amusing tin soldiers, cutting them down and forcing them to use their in-built blades lest they shoot each other.

The Schnee met him in the middle, her sabre with his blade. "White Fang's days are numbered," she taunted." She whipped her dagger at him and Adam felt its tip bounce off his Aura even as he jerked his face away. Without the barrier, he'd be sporting a nice scar on his cheek. "You and the rest of your fanatics will be brought to justice."

Adam made to chase, but she used a Glyph to propel herself behind her Knights who began to close in all around him. He heard himself snarl as he slashed several of them to ribbons. "What do you know of justice? A spoilt brat like you only knows what your father sees fit to show you beyond your gilded cage." He caught Winter's sabre. Her dagger followed through and rebounded off his Aura. Again, she retreated before he could pursue.

"I am my own woman, and you're just an animal," Winter countered from behind her Knights as Adam spun about and destroyed several of them in impotent rage. "A selfish creature of low cunning and perverse passions, incapable of rational thought. The world has no need for the likes of you."

A third exchange followed and like the two before it, Winter crossed his blade with her sabre, struck him with her dagger and then retreated with her Glyphs.

Adam realised she intended to use her Knights as cover as she inflicted light blows on him to wear away his Aura, using her Semblance to rapidly reposition herself and keep him guessing. It didn't help that Adam was still sluggish. Two stab wounds in the stomach and a tumble down a waterfall took more than a week to walk off.

If he wanted to win, he needed to adjust. He needed to remember what the Old Man had taught him at the fire in the night.

A deep part of him wondered if this was something the Old Man had foreseen.

So Adam fought his way through the mob of Knights and into the same trees from which Winter had come from, but not before taking a total of four more hits from Winter. The thick foliage made the Knights clumsy. Already clunky in their movements, their blades caught on the branches and bushes and they were forced to spread out as they pursued Adam deeper into the forest. It was here that Adam began to whittle down their numbers, thinning their ranks.

Winter's tactic became ineffective. She faced Adam openly, and this time he was able to meet her attacks. It felt good to swing his sword again. A week of healing had left him restless and chomping at the bit.

"I'm curious," Adam growled as they fought. "Where were you when Beacon fell? I was there on the night it burned. I heard your sister was a student. A pity, that I was not able to find her."

Winter narrowed her eyes. The first crack in her armour. "Leave Weiss out of this," she snapped. Adam managed to get a read on her this time, ducking her dagger as it swung for his face. He swept a foot into her stomach, sending her back with her boots skidding in the dirt. She used a Glyph to bring herself to a halt. "She's nothing like our father."

"Were you off at a tea party, throwing a hissing fit at your father as I looked for Weiss?" Adam asked as he followed after Winter, sensing a chink and working with it to get in her head. "Did your father disapprove of another one of your pitiful attempts at soldiering?"

Ah, daddy issues it was then. The barb struck home as Winter missed another strike. Adam sidestepped around her and hit her on the nape of her neck in passing. Her Aura took the blow. She stumbled forward before pivoting about, her face twisted with rage. "I'll be taking you back to Atlas," she promised. "When the CCTS is fixed, I'll have you broadcast to the world, so all Faunus will know the fate that awaits them should they dare to cross my family."

"You overestimate yourself, princess. For that, you should have hired a squad of Huntsmen." He caught her thrust and riposted. Her Aura took the blow and she retreated. Adam followed up, Wilt a spinning blur in the air as he flung it at her. She knocked it away. He caught it and swung overhead. She crossed her dagger and sabre over her head to catch his stroke, the force of it bringing her down to one knee before shoving him back.

Landing, Adam blinked as Winter took out an ice Dust crystal and inserted it into the hilt of her sabre. The blade took on a frost-like gleam. Winter stabbed at the ground and Adam threw himself out of the way as stalagmites erupted where. She sent icicles his way, upped the pace and changed tactics.

With her Glyphs, she summoned flocks of Nevermores. She summoned packs of Beowolfs. She summoned Lancers and Death Stalkers. She attempted to bury him under the weight of a hundred spirits of long-vanquished Grimm as she attacked him from a distance with ice projectiles.

And while Adam took out what he could with his own Semblance, catching the quills of the Nevermores and the stingers of the Lancers, all the while slaying the Beowolfs and Death Stalkers. He was forced to deplete his Aura with Moonslices at the same time Winter depleted hers from Glyphs.

As they both paused, Adam watched as Winter inserted another Dust crystal into her sabre. This one was yellow. Lightning. "It must be wonderful, being able to buy your way to success," he remarked, thinking of how much Lien the crystal must have cost, how much food could be brought, and how many people could be fed.

He doesn't care what anyone said. No one had any reason to be as wealthy as people like the Schnees. To earn Lien just by breathing, when others had to toil hour by hour, day by day, in far off places and on their knees, to send what little they had back home. There was no greater good in the rich existing. Affluence only paved the way for avarice, creating men like Jacque Schnee.

"I heard you maimed children and murdered your own," Winter noted. "Is that what it takes to make the world a better place?"

"Shut up and die."

"It's quaint, that your answer to everything you don't like is its destruction. You truly are a force of change. The hero of your time."

Adam hesitated as Winter charged him. As she renewed her assault, he wavered, he floundered and he stumbled.

Many years ago, Sienna Khan had said something similar.

Where did he go wrong?

* * *

The Faunus were cheering on the ground floor of the safe house, out on the courtyard and up on the rooftops, spreading the word far and wide. People were already breaking out the good china and the shot glasses. The mood was festive and no doubt the town was going to painted red that very night.

Sitting cross-legged on the attic floor with dim candles and his back to the door, Adam heard Blake come up from downstairs laughing as she disentangled herself from the crowd. He waited until she lost her patience and spoke first. It was one of their little games. "Is our fearless leader going to spend the rest of his afternoon cooped up here?" She teased.

"Your father is our leader," he chided. "I'm just more handsome and mysterious." He put his mask back on, stood up and turned around. Blake's disappointment was clear as day. She used to always ask him what he was hiding underneath.

It was something he was not sure he would ever be comfortable to talk about. Many people knew he had been in the mines. Fewer knew of what he had done to escape. Those that made it out with him he could count on one hand. He wasn't sure if any of them were still alive. The beatings, the cave-ins, the fits of coughing from inhalation of Dust, the dark and the claustrophobia took their toll on everyone. They're still taking their toll on him, all appearances to the contrary.

"Right," Blake said. "Yet they're calling your name out there."

"It should be you," Adam pointed out. "It was your plan."

"It was you who got us all out when the alarm went off," Blake countered. She frowned as Adam stepped forward and ruffled her hair in response. "You know, Dad's told me he plans to step down soon. He's looking for a successor."

Adam paused. "That's unfortunate," he said slowly, even as his heart raced. "I cannot think of anyone who can replace him." _It could be me._

"I don't know," Blake joked. "I could always put in a good word for you."

"He thinks I'm a warmonger."

"And we are at war. Even if they have signed the treaties and given us Menagerie, we're still fighting, and the sooner we win the sooner the war can stop and everyone can live in peace."

Adam remembered when he first met Blake. He had thought her naïve, impressionable even, with her books and head filled with history. How things changed so quickly. "You know, it wasn't that long before when those words would be coming from me."

Blake put her hands behind her back. "It's the truth. I know we used to argue a lot on whether White Fang should continue to protest and raise awareness as it always had in the past, but you helped me realize that we can't keep doing the same thing hoping for the same result when we have met nothing but failure in the past. There can only be so many times when we can turn the other cheek before we have to resort to the closed fist instead of the open palm. Great change rarely comes without pain."

Adam shook his head. "Maybe," he admitted, "To be honest, I miss those debates. They helped keep me sharp if nothing else."

"You're not going soft on me, are you?"

Adam gave her a little smile at that. "No, never soft. Look, do you still read those books of yours?"

"Not as much these days. I thought you weren't interested in them."

Adam still wasn't, but he wanted her to keep reading. He never knew how to read. Never learned his letters when he was young, and ever since the mines and the loss of his eye, he found he could not concentrate on words without getting a piercing headache for his trouble.

And besides, there was the matter of the things that needed to be done after a war was won. The building. The toil of peace. In such times, Faunus will need engineers, scientists, and leaders, and they needed books.

Adam should have said something. Much later, after Blake abandoned him on that train, he will berate himself for not saying it. But Blake's stomach growled right then, and maybe it was because Adam was afraid of what would happen to him if, no, when White Fang won, but Adam decided that it was a conversation that they could continue some other time. "Let's get something to eat," he suggested as Blake flushed. "Today is a good day. Let's not spoil it."

So they both went downstairs for the celebration. Blake joined her father as he announced his intentions to step down as High Leader. Adam was nudged to make a toast. Speeches were not his strong suit, but he managed, taking what he could from the few times Blake read him some old orator's text. "Every Faunus must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness."

The words felt hollow as they left his lips. Borrowed wisdom and preaching he himself did not believe. He waited for someone to point at him and call him a fake. He got applause instead, with a hundred people's feet pounding the floorboards as one.

The brands were meant for the shoulder and the back, but Adam got his because he had looked the overseer in the eye who responded by sticking the hot tongs into his face. He got a whipping to go with it as well. He remembered lying there on all fours as it fell upon his back. He still had the marks to show for it.

Part of him wondered what Blake, her father and the rest of the Faunus there at the celebration would think, if they were to ever find out what he would do if he ever got his hands on that overseer.

Part of him hoped White Fang would never win.

Sienna found him after the celebration. He had attempted to slink away and out of sight, but the other Faunus was perceptive. "I am to be made High Leader," she stated as they stood side by side on the rooftops, watching the city lights.

Adam snorted. "Congratulations."

"You sound dissatisfied."

"Not at all. I've just never been one for festivities. Or speeches."

"I don't know. Seemed like you liked playing the part, but fear not. Your time will come soon enough. Revolution has always been the work of the youth, and youth like you will be the ones to lead us to a brighter tomorrow."

Adam grunted, pretending that elation did not swell within his chest at her words. "So what do you have planned for us?"

"What we did today is just the start. SDC and their corporate ilk run convoys with Dust all the time over land and sea. I should think it a shame that some of it does not find its way to our people. With Dust, we can turn White Fang into a power to be reckoned with. We can start to make real changes."

"White Fang won't be as we once were. We're not guerrillas. We're protestors. Most of the people down there are students who have never picked up a gun in their life."

"And students can learn. Besides, you don't break chains with a signed petition."

"Ghira would disapprove."

"Ghira is going home," Sienna replied smoothly. "He means to spend time with his family and our people back in Menagerie. When he is chieftain, and he will be, he will need White Fang to maintain his standing. So though he may not agree with the methods, he will condone, one way or another, when we deliver results."

"And me?"

"You will be the tip of the spear. You've been in the mines before. You will help organise resistance cells to sabotage their operations. You will hit the humans where they will feel it the most and fade away before they can bring their full force to bear. You will strike at their sweatshops, their factories, their customers, _their pockets_. Only when we have given them a serious nosebleed will they pay attention to the plight of our people and come to the negotiating table." Sienna turned to Adam, and her eyes were wicked with good humour, alight in the knowledge that what she offered to Adam was ideal to him. "Do this right, and you will forever be known as the hero of your time."

They both looked down at the courtyard. Music was playing. Faunus were dancing. "Will Blake be returning with her father to Menagerie?" Adam heard himself ask as he spotted her in the midst of it all, swaying with her partner to the beat of the drums.

Sienna shrugged, even as her lips curled in a knowing smirk. "Who knows? The young Belladonna has always gone where you go. I don't see why that is bound to change anytime soon."

"You're mocking me."

"Not at all. I'm jealous. You should be grateful for your happiness. Don't let it slip away, or do you plan to let the beauty of the night dance with everyone but you?"

So Adam went down to the courtyard and watched Blake go from partner to partner as they changed songs.

But he didn't join in and soon made his way out, turning away just as Blake spotted him and beckoned.

* * *

The tip of the sabre pricked Adam's throat. Wilt laid on the ground a short distance away, Adam's sword-hand still stinging. "It seems I am indeed the finest of them all," Winter remarked cheerfully. "Any last words?"

Adam took the sabre in one hand, clenching tightly. Blood leaked from his fingers as he leaned closer. Winter recoiled from him as if he were a leper. "Thank you," he hissed. "You are right. You are so right. Now I know what I am."

He was a foolish brat who had lost sight of his way. When did Blake matter, when there were other people who were counting on him to make a difference? When did Yang matter, when all she did was give Blake the happiness that he couldn't? Blake didn't stay because all he could ever see when he looked at her way something to lean on, but when the time came for her to lean on him, well where was he?

He might as well gouge out his other eye. To be so blind, that he never saw what was worth seeing? When he couldn't keep his gaze on the bright future Sienna had envisioned for him?

Winter ripped the sabre free from Adam's grip. He closed his eyes as she swung for his head.

He needed to go to Atlas.

He needed to return to where it all began, and come full circle.

* * *

**Arno wisp: Didn't know of Adel aka till you mentioned it, but I did go to find the video and believe the idea you're referring to did come from one the comments. Agree that I would like to see what I can salvage out of Adam as a character. Found his death to be cool but rather wasteful. However, my idea for this story came from that one episode in Samurai Champloo.**

**MidKnightMoonglow99: I'm glad you like it. I intend to see it through.**

**Engineer1869: You and me both.**

**HT: Indeed they do!**

**To the rest of you who have followed or favourited this, thank you for your support. I promise to keep this story rolling.**

**As for those of you who are more interested in my other RWBY fic, ****Fathers Without Wives, I'll be taking a look at it later this week.**


	3. Chapter 3

It was a slap that returned Adam to the world. Not the greatest of awakenings, but he's had worse.

From what Adam could tell as he jolted upright, he was bound with his head being kept under a black silk bag, and the faint changes in inertia indicated he was on a transport. He heard the distant beeping of instruments and felt the floor shift, so likely an airship. By the musty smell and the fact that he could stretch his feet to touch the far wall on the other side of the room, he believed he was in a cargo hold.

"Just so you know," Winter said from the door as Adam stirred. "The Atlesian military has quite a heavy file on you. It says that in the event of an encounter with the infamous Adam Taurus, the recommended procedure is the deployment of a squad of Special Operatives with a contingent of AK-200s and supporting Paladin-290s. Last I heard, that procedure was also being reviewed in line with your recent feat of destroying a Spider Droid not long ago."

Adam chuckled. "I hope I made great reading material."

"Be that as it may, I'm taking you back to Atlas. You will be put on trial and justice will be served."

"I will never see the inside of a prison cell."

"We don't execute criminals. That's not how government works."

"Really, and how does your government work exactly?" Adam checked his bonds. They were manacles. Winter had employed two sets, one to cuff both his hands, another for his legs. From what he could tell, noting his prodigious strength, he could not break them.

"Don't bother about the cuffs. They're made with the same material used for caging live Grimm specimens. As for your other query, we will put you through court with all the legal proceedings as we would for any other citizen of Atlas." Adam didn't have to look to know Winter was scowling at the thought of someone like him being a citizen from the same Kingdom as her. "We're nothing if not fair, despite your sentiments. On that note, you will probably never see daylight again, given your numerous crimes against humanity"

Adam snorted. "Your kind and their formalities," he muttered as he heard Winter lock the door and stride away.

An hour passed. Adam had counted. Winter returned and gave him a Meal, Ready to Go ration pack. She removed the bag from his head, unlocked one of his hands from behind and then retreat to the door to eat her pack while he ate his.

"This is terrible," Adam grunted. Upon his first inspection of the MRE ration pack and as he began to eat, he noted the pack came with a metal tray filled with an entrée, some protein bars, crackers, bread cheese, seasonings, towelettes and a spoon to eat from the tray. The only thing that Atlas's military had not considered was the taste, which was bland as anything Adam had ever eaten. "Is this even food?"

"It is," Winter agreed. "If you like, you can always starve."

"No thank you. I've starved all my life. I relish a meal, although I have to say this one is lacking in texture."

"Then stop complaining. These weren't meant to be enjoyed. They're for sustenance. Nothing more."

"You know I could break out of these cuffs."

Winter glanced away from her meal and made a point of looking him up and down. "I highly doubt that. I welcome you to try," she said mildly. "Your blade and scabbard are in the cockpit. Even if you won, I doubt you would know how to fly the ship."

"So who's flying while we're having this enlightening conversation?" Adam craned his shoulder to look past Winter to the pilot seat, which he noted was empty.

Winter frowned. "Autopilot."

Adam sniffed. "Right. Another example of your Kingdom's vaunted technological prowess. Suppose after I kill you I could always ask this autopilot to take me somewhere else?"

"It's voice-coded and password locked," Winter pointed out as she returned to her meal. "Even if I gave you access, I doubt you would be able to land the airship." She gulped down mouthfuls of the tasteless broth until the tray was empty. "Keep eating," she ordered as Adam stared at his tray. "It's bad to waste a meal. I'll come back in half an hour to collect what's left."

With that, she shut and relocked the door, leaving Adam in the darkness with only the light coming from underneath as his only source of illumination.

He was acutely reminded of the day he hid in the basement cranny as bad men upstairs knocked over all the furniture before taking his parents away. He remembered the nights in prison, listening to an inmate in the next cell down the row cry for mercy while a guard came by to rap his baton on the bars and snap at him to shut up. He remembered the days in the mines, listening for the sounds of a cave-in as other workers coughed from the soot that entered their lungs, their breath rattling as they hacked phlegm into the earth.

When he lost his eye and received his first whipping of forty strokes, he had to stay up in a fever for a week in the worker's bunkhouse. Because he was unable to dig in the mines, the overseer took it out on the other workers, making them do his share.

With the poor food, lack of hygiene and the lack of balms and salves for the burn, Adam would have died there, if it were not for this one couple that helped nursed Adam back to health. Elijah and Illyasviel. The other workers shunned Adam, afraid of receiving retribution from the overseer for associating with him, and resentful that they had to do extra work. Not these two. They were good people. They talked of a daughter they snuck into a human prep school, and their ability to change her appearance had helped her hide her Faunus heritage.

Their deaths, in turn, had made Ilia Amitola an invaluable member of White Fang, well before she deserted the cause and disarmed the bombs he set up at Haven Academy. All because she listened to Blake.

Adam sighed and began to wolf the MRE food down as fast as possible, focusing on the food before him as he pushed his thoughts away. It seemed recently all he could think about was the past. Dark places among the filth of Humanity, people who have hurt him, people who have left him.

But that was alright. He was the culmination of everything that has had happened to him so far. What he will be now will depend on his actions in the coming days.

Cinder had done well to keep him out of his plans, and those of her master who she had kept unnamed. But as he reconsidered the conversations they had in the past, and those he had with Hazel, he pieced some parts of it together.

Cinder's master wanted to capture all four Academies. Yet Haven itself was expendable since they wanted White Fang to send it blowing sky-high. Beacon's also overrun by Grimm. So that meant their goal was something that each Academy had in their possession.

Atlas hasn't been attacked yet. So perhaps, Adam could beat Cinder and her master to the punch and find out what it is they wanted.

But after he killed Jacque Schnee and the rest of his board of directors. Maybe the headmaster of Atlas too while he was at that. Never liked the man's policy on Faunus.

And when he came across Cinder and her cronies again, or they came across him, well, he was going to have a long conversation with them, and he didn't intend to be the one talking.

One other thing was for certain though. He did not intend to return to Mistral for a long, long time. Not after Sienna. Not after Blake. Certainly not after that top-heavy blonde friend of hers.

It was a shame though. He would have liked the chance to thank the Old Man for his lessons. Perhaps they would not be such a waste as Adam had kept telling him.

Still, he believed the Old Man would disagree with Adam's interpretation of some of them.

"Ready to tuck me in, Schnee?" Adam joked as Winter returned.

The Huntress scowled. "In your dreams, Taurus." She resecured the black bag over his head, drowning him once more in total darkness.

* * *

**Awardeall: Thanks, I made it myself.**

**Seanymichaelcaroll: I try Sean. I intend to keep trying.**

**MidKnightMoonglow99: Thanks, inspiration is staying with me on this one.**

**Dual Beast Hunt: As you wait, so shall I provide.**

**Also, many, many thanks to those who have favorited or followed this. You guys are the best. Hope I can keep up with the expectations. **

**Funnily enough, it also only just occurred to me that the things I'm about to write next will probably disagree with Vol 7 when it comes out, especially once I get to Atlas. But then again, I brought Adam back from the dead so this was doomed to be an AU from the start.**

**See you all next time.**


	4. Chapter 4

"Miss Schnee, may I perhaps suggest we retire until tomorrow? The snow is beginning to pick up."

"Not yet, Klein," Weiss said as she stood on the landing pad and scanned the sky for signs of Winter's airship. "Just another hour." She tinkered with her Scroll as her butler, looking comical in his heavy overcoat as the top of his moustache bristled with snow, shuffled his feet restlessly.

The connection on the Scroll from the network came and went. While the Cross Continental Transmit System had been down since everything went topsy turvy in Vale, what with a Grimm Dragon knocking down the Beacon Tower, the Atlesian engineers had managed to get some semblance of the CCTS back up and running. But only within the borders of Atlas. The rest of the world still remained in the dark, communities cut off from each other and left to fend for themselves.

But ever since the heating grid went off under mysterious circumstances, the emergency power supply had done what it could to carry the burden, and that led to frequent brownouts with the CCTS.

"Your father would not be pleased," Klein reminded her gently. "Remember that he requires your presence for the gala tonight." For the seven days and seven nights since Weiss stepped onto the ground of the floating city of Atlas, Salem's Grimm have come and the Atlesian Armada have met them in the open sky. The results of the last week now laid scattered across the many leagues around the city. Yet Weiss's father continued to throw parties like it was all a storm that was going to blow over. Yesterday's news that Mantle had rebuffed another assault had the SDC's stocks had gone up another two points. They were holding another gathering tonight.

Weiss imagined the damage she could do to her family net worth if she became a scandal. Assault a CEO. Mack lips on one of her friends right in front of a news broadcast. Speak out in support of the Faunas riots that were taking place down in Mantle.

But that's the best part. She couldn't, not without endangering everyone she cared for.

"My father and I have an understanding," Weiss retorted, and then chided herself for her sharp tone. This was not her father she was talking to, who had been cold and indifferent ever since her return, nor her dearie brother, who has managed to somehow avoid her completely in the last week. This was Klein, who in his own way, was only trying to remind her that she could do better than to deliberately make enemies among her own family.

But it was true that Weiss had to play to Jacque's fiddle, at least for a while until she had her chance. She checked her Scroll again for the chatroom she and the rest of the gang had set up prior to their separation. Still no response from anyone. She was getting worried.

The last message came from Ruby. She, Yang and Team JNR had gone down to Mantle to join in the defence. Still haven't given an update. Probably just the CCTS again, but Weiss was still worried.

Blake was still in her cell. They still give her Scroll calls, but beyond that, she was cut off from the others. Being a White Fang member still raised red flags that haven't been circumvented yet.

"Don't worry," Yang had joked at the time that Blake was taken away, even though her eyes were cold. "Just look at it as free room and board."

Blake shrugged ruefully. "I'll try to behave, but don't keep a girl waiting."

Of Oscar and Qrow's whereabouts, she still had no clue. The last time they spoke was after the heating grid was shut off. They talked about getting it restarted, but beyond that, Weiss had not heard anything since.

A loud ding came from behind her. Weiss turned around and watched as the elevator opened and Ironwood in full dress, flanked by four of the Atlesian Special Operatives, stepped out.

Weiss narrowed her eyes, even as Klein meaningfully cleared his throat. "James."

Ironwood inclined his head in reply as he approached her. "Do you intend to revisit our conversation from before?" He asked as he scratched his beard. "Or does your answer remain the same?"

Weiss bit her lip and looked away as Winter's airship descended from above.

She doubted even the Relic of Knowledge could tell what was in her heart with regard to that question.

* * *

A week earlier, when Weiss and everyone had arrived in Atlas and received clearance, their Manta ship was escorted to a landing pad. Along the way, Maria took the ship through the scenic route, and they became aware of something quite puzzling.

"Weiss," Yang said aloud asked as she and Ruby peered out of the cockpit glass. "Is it just me or is there a national holiday today?"

Weiss got up from her spot near the wall, patting down her skirts before she joined her friends. They looked together as Maria dipped the ship a little lower. "You're right," Weiss answered. "Looks like the whole city's out on the streets." She could see that the traffic was blocked as people slowly flooded down the road. From up high, all she could tell was that they numbered in the hundreds, no, _thousands_.

"Reckon there's a celebration?" Yang asked. "Maybe that's why they got all those other ships up. Could be some sort of military parade."

"No," Blake said, coming up to join them. "They're protesting. Look. See over there? Those are riot police, and those are water cannons on top of those trucks. And that is a long range megaphone. They use them to disperse the crowds."

"Any reason why they can be doing that?" Ruby asked.

Weiss's heart sank. "I can certainly come up with a couple." She felt Yang pat her on the shoulder while Ruby took her hand and squeezed it gently.

As their Manta airship touched down on of one of Atlas's towers and they all disembarked, they came out and found themselves facing off against Atlesian military.

"This hardly seems like the red carpet reception," Qrow said sharply as the rest of the party stiffened from the appearance of armed soldiers training their weapons on them. "Put those away. I'm a Huntsman."

A hulking Paladin-290 made its way forward. The opaque cockpit glass cleared to reveal the pilot inside. "State your business, Huntsman," the battle-suit's loudspeaker boomed. "And tell your brood behind you to keep their hands off their weapons. Are they the same as you?"

Qrow glanced behind him. Yang frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. Nora shifted Magnhild behind her back. "They haven't exactly graduated yet," he answered, returning his attention to the Paladin pilot. "But there's not exactly a Beacon for them to return to either. On that note, we've come to see Ironwood. He and we have to catch up on current affairs. My name is Qrow Branwen. I suggest you send that through your comms. I'm quite sure my license hasn't expired yet."

There was a long moment of silence as the pilot mulled it over, while the party remained tensed for possible violence. Weiss stepped forward, and while the pilot's face was covered by a visor, she was very sure that made his decision for him as he stiffened.

"Very well then," the pilot answered bringing the Paladin's armaments to rest. "Come with us."

As far as reunions went, it could have been better. Only Ruby, Weiss, Qrow and, after some eyebrow raising, Oscar were let in while everyone else had to wait outside. Voices were raised, tempers frayed and more than one threat had been thrown.

Weiss was shocked when she saw Ironwood for the first time since she ran away from home. Last they spoke, he had a nine o'clock shadow and some bags under his eyes but he still maintained full dress. The shadow was now a full-fledged beard, his eyes were bloodshot and as he paced before them, Weiss could hear the rattle of phlegm in his throat and the shifting of gears and cogs under his uniform.

"Let's start from the beginning," Ironwood snapped, stopping before his desk. His Scroll vibrated. He silenced it. "I think you fail to understand the predicament I find myself in today. Since we placed the embargo on Dust, our relations with all the other Kingdoms have soured to the point that we may see a return to what was before the Great War." He paused and glanced down at his Scroll. "I received a report that you had commandeered an Atlesian Manta to get here. My people have checked the register and advised me that Manta 5-1 was last recorded to have been on mothball duty at our base in Argus. How did you get it?"

"Caroline Cordovin gave it to us," Ruby piped in. "After we helped her defeat a Leviathan."

"And how did you come to achieve that?"

"What does it matter how we accomplished it?" Qrow retorted, interrupting Ruby. "What matters is that we are here and we want to help. I do not understand why I am getting the sense that we are being interrogated here."

"Because once the Council is aware of your arrival, and they will be, they will be suspicious. Some might even go so far as to label you as provocateurs."

Qrow stiffened. "You know me James. I am the last person anyone would ever pick to be a spy."

"And yet these are uncertain times, and my position on the Council is tenuous. I relayed the contents of the letter you sent me and they were…poorly received."

"What does that mean?"

Ironwood ignored Qrow's question. "There's also the matter of Blake Belladona. Do you realize that there is still an outstanding warrant for her arrest, or have you forgotten this city's history with the White Fang?"

"White Fang is no more," Ruby answered. "Blake killed Adam Taurus while we were in Argus."

"Do you have proof?" Ironwood asked. Ruby shook her head and he sighed. "I'm not saying that I don't believe you, and while it is true that there have been sightings of Adam in Argus, I cannot work with hearsay. White Fang is still active here, especially beneath us in Mantle. Blake will be treated as one of its affiliated members, unless you can offer me something better."

"If we can't, what will become of her?" Qrow asked.

Ironwood hesitated as his Scroll vibrated. He silenced it again with a frown. "Let's leave that matter aside for now." He turned his attention to Weiss, and something hardened in his eyes. "Which brings me to you. I will be frank. Your father has been quite the thorn in my side ever since the embargo. He will no doubt want me to put you back into his custody. It will cost me dearly to refuse him. Some of the Council speak with his voice and they speak quite loudly."

"I go my own way," Weiss retorted. "My father only wants me back because he is worried about the family name."

Ironwood spread his hands. "I sympathise. But what am I to do now that you have inadvertently drawn me into your quarrel with him, especially when he is interfering with the war effort?" He glanced at everyone else in the room. "Ozpin and I had an understanding, and as you were privy to our conversations, Branwen, you too should realize that I will only act in the best interests of my Kingdom. Since you both drew me into the fold, I understood that there is a bigger picture to be considered and I had relented. But now my home is under attack, so I am afraid that big picture has to wait. For what it's worth, I am sorry to hear that Ozpin is dead."

Ruby fidgeted and Weiss glanced at Oscar who looked away as Qrow shuffled his feet nervously. It was agreed beforehand that the Relic of Knowledge was not to be mentioned to Ironwood. Qrow had also saw fit to leave the matter of Ozpin and Oscar out of the letter he had sent before they boarded the Argus Limited, thinking that particular tidbit would be best explained in person.

But since they arrived, Oscar confessed that he couldn't hear Ozpin's voice anymore. It seemed even Ironwood was not enough to draw him out.

There was a knocking on the door. "Come in," Ironwood said.

An aide popped her head in. "Sir. I have a call for you. It's Mr Schnee. Says you won't answer your Scroll so he will not wait another minute."

Ironwood exhaled. "I had hoped I would have more time. Very well. Transfer it to my desk." He sat down and pulled the telephone set towards him. "I am sorry, but I have to take this. I will have lodgings arranged for you all, if you could please excuse me?" He rubbed his eyes. "Not you Weiss," he added as she turned to follow everyone else out the door. "I have a feeling you may want to hear this."

"Weiss," Ruby said worriedly. "You want me to stay with you?"

Weiss shook her head. "It's alright. I think I can handle this much." She and Ironwood waited until the door closed and the telephone rang. Ironwood put the call on loudspeaker, and despite herself, Weiss found herself edging forward. "Talk to me Jacque," Ironwood said as he answered the call.

"Is it true that my daughter has returned to Atlas?"

Ironwood glanced at Weiss, who shook her head. _I am not here, _she mouthed. "She has, but I am afraid you just missed her."

"I am not surprised. I will make myself clear, James. I want her back. I will tolerate no disagreement in this. Her disappearance has quite caused a bit of inconvenience for her family. She is quite fortunate that I have not disowned her as of yet."

Ironwood glanced at Weiss as she glared, and had the grace to look abashed, if only for a moment. "I will be sure to pass your message onto her," he replied, clearing his throat. "I am sure she is keen to see you again as well."

"Make sure you do, James. I do not think it need be said that it would greatly benefit our working relationship for you to stress to her the importance of this request and ensure that she complies with it. Is that understood?"

This time Ironwood was the one to scowl. "I am not one to intervene in a matter between father and daughter, Jacque."

"Which is surprising considering you have already stolen one daughter from me."

"I will relay your concerns to Weiss in full and do no more than that," Ironwood retorted. "If you have not forgotten, I do have my hands full with an impending siege right now."

"Which is why you will require my assistance."

"I know I can count on your support," Ironwood countered. "I hear the rioting down in Mantle has become particularly…bold as of late. My intelligence operatives have told me that White Fang is mobilizing, not to mention new factions springing up in arms over your company's work ethics. For example, the news report of your employees collapsing in that warehouse without being sent home certainly caused a stir."

Weiss blood boiled as her father chuckled from the other end of the line. "Let's save the verbal jousting for the Council meeting tomorrow, James. Talk to you soon."

The line clicked dead. Ironwood replaced the phone in its cradle. "Thank you," Weiss said, and stiffened as Ironwood slumped back in his chair, suddenly looking old and tired. "When was the last time you shaved?" She watched as Ironwood reached into his coat and took out a flask. "Or showered or changed for that matter?" She added as she watched him uncap and take a long sip. She sniffed. Smelt like whiskey. "Please don't drink that. I hate to see you end up like Qrow."

Ironwood snorted at the mention of Qrow, but waved her off. "You're not my mother. I am free to make my own bad decisions."

Weiss crossed her arms. "Tell me what's happening here."

Ironwood glanced at her, sighed at the look on her face, and replaced the cap on his flask before tossing it onto the desk. "Salem sent us a warning three days ago. She said, and this is her exact words, that she intended to do to us what she has already done to the fair City of Vale. Since then, I have been mobilising our forces, readying our defences and ensuring that every available airship has been ordered to return home. Having said that, Salem could not have picked a worse time to invade us."

"Why is that?"

"Because," Ironwood answered flatly. "We are currently under martial law."

Weiss blinked. "Say what now?"

Ironwood smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "After the Council placed the ban on Dust exports, the Atlas became embroiled in a trade war with the other Kingdoms. Since then, there has been nothing but…escalation. When we stopped selling Dust, they gradually began to raise the prices on what we imported till it was little more than highway robbery. So our government began to confiscate the shipments without paying. Now we are rounding up anyone in either Mantle or here in Atlas who we believe may potentially be dangerous to the public order."

"Such as?" A thought struck Weiss. "You don't mean you're going to arrest Blake, do you?"

Ironwood glanced out the window. "I much prefer it if I didn't have to, but my position is tenuous, and the upcoming elections put me a cliff's edge. You know I have no patience for politics, but politics is the game that I have to play, and if I excuse Blake's history, Jacque would hammer me for it. No, though it does not please me, the people are worried and I have to do what I can to inspire their confidence."

Weiss stared, wondering if this was the same man who stood by her in the ballroom even after she accidentally summoned a Boarbatusk. "Blake's a friend. She's been then for me when I had no one else," she said, also wondering if she and the team would soon be counted among those considered as dangerous to Atlas.

Knowing her father, Weiss would most certainly be placed back under house arrest or the like once she stepped inside the manor.

"Look. It all depends on what the Council has to say once I have spoken with them tomorrow," Ironwood replied. "On that note, I think it is best that we cut this conversation short for the time being. You have travelled a long way to come here and probably need some rest from the jet lag."

Weiss knew a dismissal when she heard one. As she left, she remembered her father telling her that Ironwood had two votes on the Council, both as the leader of its military and the headmaster of Atlas Academy, which is not to speak of the other members who he already had leverage over. "Just don't forget," she said as she left. "The reason you came to Vale in the first place was because you wanted to save everyone."

"It may not be as simple as that anymore," Ironwood murmured as Weiss closed the door.

* * *

Weiss stared as Winter dragged the man off the airship, her thoughts of a joyful reunion banished at the sight of her sister's prisoner. "I thought you were dead,' she breathed as Winter passed him over to the custody of the Special Operatives. "They said you fell into the waterfall."

Adam glanced at her, his one blue eye taking her in with a keenness that made her shiver "I swam out," he muttered. "It seems that I am just not that easy to kill."

"Oh don't worry," Winter promised, shoving him forward. "There's still time for that."

Adam shrugged. "Perhaps. Give my regards to Blake and Yang the next time you see them." Then the Special Operatives led him away.

Which left Weiss, Klein, Winter and Ironwood standing alone on the landing pad.

If it was just Weiss and Winter alone, she'd have embraced her without a second's thought. As it was, Weiss reminded herself to be careful. Winter was family, but she was also Ironwood's soldier.

From Winter's expression, Weiss believed that Winter felt the same.

"Perhaps we should retire inside for refreshments?" Klein suggested. "I can have some crepes prepared in short order."

"Yes," Winter and Weiss said in unison, before glancing at each other and smiling. "That would be wonderful," Winter added.

Cut off from her friends, forced to maintain pretenses with her father, and unsure as to what to make of the shadow of the clockwork man she once admired as a bastion of justice and security, Weiss was hoping that once she had a chance to speak with Winter, the two of them would be able to figure something out.

If only she knew. Things were going to get much worse.

* * *

Author's note: I don't know what to say to excuse the delay. That I've been busy or that I've been discouraged. To be realistic, I will only promise that I will keep these coming, but I think it's better if I keep timeframes vague at this point given my poor track record.


End file.
